Strength Enough
by Mourshkin
Summary: The wild is no place for folk who cannot fend for themselves. And so Ori is told. Gentle, quiet, bookish Ori. But his big brother is the strongest dwarf around such things often run in the family. Ori, and everyone else, learns that there's more to him than meets the eye.
1. Gut-rot and secrets

Ori's head felt curiously light, as if it might float off by itself and leave him behind. Somehow everything was twice as funny as it ought to have been and the chill evening air did not seem cool at all. Instead his face was aflame and every sip from the bottle warmed him some more. He took another gulp and passed it back to Fili.

'So did she ever actually arrive?'

'No, yeh, after I waited till I thought I would turn to _stone_ , ' Fili continued with a dramatic eye-roll, 'Lady what-ever-her-name-was, finally arrives and just about walks right through the Southern gate and into town without me!'

Kili snickered and pinch the bottle his brother, 'Made she thought you was a statue!'

Ori giggled and Fili raised his voice to continue, ' _Anyway_ , so I step right out in front of her, done my best bow, Kili at your service and all that, dead fancy like Amad taught us and all she does is look down at me like I'm a piece of grit fallen into her ore.'

Ori tutted and sniffed exactly like Dori would, shaking his with a matronly, 'How un-mannerly of her.'

'Oh wheest Ori, let me finish' said Fili with a grin. 'So I realise she doesn't recognise me, so I start to tell her that Thorin's my uncle but all I get to say is "Thorin Oakenshield-" before she cuts me off saying I should have told her earlier and tosses her coat and bag in my arms and tells me to take her to him. Pretty rude if you ask me, and I couldn't get a peep out of her the rest of the way, just turned up her nose and pretended not to hear. And then when we got to the Meeting Hall where uncle was to speak with her, she takes her stuff and gives me a silver piece! She thought I was a _servant_!'

'Well if you insist on going about with your hair unbound like a ruffian, with knives stuff into every crevice you can find - it's a wonder she didn't take you for a thief!' This time Ori's impression of Dori was so uncanny that all three young dwarves fell about laughing.

When they had recovered, Kili wiped his eyes and said 'So that's how you managed to pay for this gut-rot, then. Ha, at least we got something good out of her snooty-ness.'

Ori narrowed his eyes and tilted his head as he always did when thinking. 'So why was Thorin meeting with a some grand Lady from the Northern Range?'

Suddenly Fili and Kili looked incredibly sheepish, as if they had given a way a big secret. Fili started to say 'Well, uncle-'

But Kili cut him off, 'We promised not to tell! He said it might not happen anyway!'

'It's only Ori,' Fili countered, 'We can trust him.' Ori nodded his head enthusiastically, alway eager for news and gossip. Kili took a deep breath and said,

'Unclesayshe'sgoingtotryandtakebackEreborandwe'regoingtogotoo.'

Ori's mouth hung open, 'What!?'

'Uncle says-'

'No, I heard you fine, I just can't believe it! Take back Erebor, what a quest! That story would last a thousand years! I could write it, I could record it, can I come too!?'

The brothers looked at one another, faces torn between embarrassment and amusement.

'It's a long way, Ori.'

'I'm good at walking!'

'It'll be dangerous.'

'I'm not afraid!'

'...You might have to fight.'

'I...' Ori looked away, face flaming redder under the alcohol-flush. 'I don't fight.'

'Oh Ori, we know, not everyone's a warrior, there's no shame in not being good at-' Kili bit his tongue to stop the insult that threatened to leap out of his mouth. Ori's mouth set in a thin hard line.

'It's not that I can't fight. I'm just...I'm scared that I'll hurt someone.'

Fili's face softened in a smile, 'Ori, you're so gentle I don't think you could hurt a single living thing.' He'd meant it as a compliment but Ori's face clouded and his eyes filled, as if he was reliving a bad memory.

'You don't understand.' Ori stood suddenly and walked swiftly back towards the entrance to the mountain. The brothers called apologies after him, but they only made his lip quiver and he did not turn back.


	2. Good lodgings

Back inside the mountain, Ori hurried through the slowly emptying streets of the market quarter. It was late now and the alleys were dark, save for the flickering firelight that danced in the windows of homes and taverns and the occasional dwarf hurrying homeward, lantern held high. When they passed him, Ori turned his head and clenched his fists, afraid the oil-light would catch the tears that still filled his eyes.

But soon he had passed out of the busiest thoroughfares and into a quiet lane, where the stone floor was not so smoothly carved, nor the building faces so well maintained. Barely a light shone here but Ori could have found his way in the dark. He stopped as he reached a low doorway, somehow more respectably kept that its neighbours. He spared a glance at the finely engraved runes above the door, picked out with copper (not gold) leaf. The words 'Good Lodgings' glimmered faintly in the light that seeped from under the door along with the scrapings of cutlery and good-natured chatter. Ori sighed sharply, he had hoped everyone would be in bed.

He pushed open the door and stepped into a porch, cramped and crammed with digging tools, walking staffs, cloaks, hoods and boots of all descriptions. Ori assiduously removed his own footwear (no matter how upset he was, some rules just weren't broken), and stepped into the equally crowded dining hall. Well, calling it a hall was stretching it. What had once been a modestly sized living room was now filled with tables and benches and dwarves from all corners of Arda.

Usually, Ori reveled in the tales their lodger's brought of far-off kingdoms and dangerous deeds. He would sit, pen in hand and listen open-mouthed to anyone who would speak to him - whether they be an Orocani merchant or a lowly coal-miner from the next mountain along. But just now, Ori wanted nothing more than to go to bed and feel very sorry for himself. So he hurried, head down towards his room - and straight into Dori's back.

'Now watch where you're going! You could very well- Oh, Ori, where have you been, off with those wild boys again, and you forgot to take your coat, you're later back than I expected, but never mind, just in time to help me with the dishes, come along and-'

'No.' Ori brushed past his brother, nearly upsetting the tottering stack of plates he carried for the second time. Dori gaped.

As Ori tripped upstairs to the bedroom, a little part of his mind reeled. Surely that was the first time he'd ever contradicted Dori. But most of his mind was filling with numbing guilt and a bad memory, cut with anger and shame at being called useless by his best friends. Without thinking, he threw himself onto Nori's bed which had remained made and unoccupied for so many months. Drawing the blanket about his shoulders, Ori turned to the wall with a shiver.

The original house had gone down three storeys into the ground, but near after their mother's death Dori had said he could not face coal mining again and turned their home into a lodging house. Alone, he had built a further level aboveground. It was hardly respectable for a dwarf to live so, and it was cold, but windows gave them cheap light and it freed up the lower and more desirable floors to be rented out.

Usually, Ori was glad of the room. It stayed light long enough for him write or draw until he fell asleep, without Dori complaining about the cost of candles. But now, without his brothers' sleeping forms in their beds, it seemed bare and draught-y. He huffed sadly and burrowed further into the blanket and did not move until he felt the bed sag and a gentle hand come to rest on his shoulder. The two brothers sat in silence for a while, then Dori sighed.

'I really miss him, at times like this.' His voice was so uncharacteristically soft that Ori twisted and looked at him in confusion.

'Who? Nori?' This got a stifled snort in response.

'No! Well...yes, him too. But I was actually speaking of your father.'

'Adad, why?'

'Oh, he always knew what to say, had the right words for any occasion - Nori got that from him. And he was good at listening and hearing what people didn't say. He...he could always tell what was wrong, even if you didn't tell him.'

'Really? I-I can't remember that much. I just remember he could carry me about and he made everyone laugh.'

Dori grinned. 'Aye, he did that too. Oh he was sharp as anything. Shame his first son never got any his brains. Seems he saved them all for you.'

'And what about your Adad? Are you anything like him?'

Dori laughed loudly and shook his head. 'Not a bit of it! He was the most patient dwarf every made and never seemed cross at anything at all.' Ori snorted and quickly covered his mouth. Dori shook his head. 'No, I was always much more like Amad. In every way.'

A smile wobbled across Ori's face. 'What, you mean always being sure that you're right?!'

'Oi! I am always right! Well, usually, anyway.' Both brother's laughter subsided into silence.

'So what's all this about, Ori? What's upset you?'

'F-fili and Kili think I can't fight, they think I'm useless, but they don't understand, they wouldn't believe me if I told them. I'm always so scared, when they muck about or arm wrestle, that I might forget and really hurt them l-like I did w-ith -N-N-Nori!'

This confession ended with a sob into the now very crumpled blanket.

'Shh, shh. Now you're still not digging into yourself about that wee thing, you were only a young lad then.'

'But I broke his arm, Dori! The healer thought it would never fix, oh if it hadn't I'd never be able to look at him, if I did it again...'

'But his arm did heal. And while it was healing, he learned to use his left hand and now he's as good with it as he is with his right. Did him a favour, really - now he can get into trouble with both hands at the same time!' Dori had meant to make a joke but it fell flat onto Ori's unflinching guilt. He sighed.

'You were a wee boy, playing with your brother. You didn't mean to hurt him. You didn't know your own strength, that's all.'

Ori sniffed. 'I still don't.'

'Don't what?'

'Know my own strength. I break things without meaning to. Push people over when I just meant to brush past them. I'm hopeless.'

'Oh Ori, you just have to learn. Its not as difficult as it might feel. You- you've just got to learn how to move, how to use your strength to your advantage.'

Ori sniffed again. 'What would you know about it?' He said petulantly.

'Oh I know plenty!' Dori chuckled. Ori twisted to look at him again.

'Really? C..could you teach me?'

Dori fixed him with a hard stare and said seriously, 'Only if you help me with the dishes first.'


	3. Unexpected Plans

Fili and Kili made their way through the dark, deserted alleys that wound between forges and smith shops. They had taken the shortcut home a hundred times or more but it felt different tonight. The dark granite was cold and damp and hung with shadows which flickered and barely retreated from the small lantern they held. Somehow, the brothers felt they were intruding and spoke in hushed voices.

'I feel bad.' Whispered Fili with a pained expression.

'You feel bad? I'm the one that called him useless! I feel awful.'

'It's not a competition, Kili. It's both our faults. We both feel bad, alright?'

'Aye, I suppose.' Kili's face twisted with concern. 'How are we going to make it up to him?'

Fili turned an incredulous look on his brother. 'Apologise of course!'

'We can't do that!' Kili said with horror.

'What are you talking about?'

'Well if we say we're sorry, then we'll have to say what we're sorry for and that'll throw fuel on the fire and I just know I'll say something stupid again.'

The scenario seemed to play itself out in Fili's mind. He winced. 'Hmm, you've got a point there.'

Kili sighed. 'I just don't want to make Ori cry again that's all.'

Suddenly two hands melted out of the darkness behind them and grasped the brother's shoulders. A low voice hissed.

'Who's been making my little brother cry?'

Fili and Kili cried out in shock, spun to face their assailant, bashed into each other and landed in a pile on the floor. As they scrambled to their feet, a familiar chuckle from the shadows made them relax.

'Nori, thank Mahal it's just you!' Said Kili with relief as the dwarf emerged from the darkness with a lopsided grin on his face.

Fili cocked his head, 'I didn't know you were back in town.'

Nori shook his head and made a dismissive gesture with his hand. 'Ach, I've just arrived.' Then his eyes narrowed. 'Who did you think it was, that gave you such a fright?'

The brothers glanced at each other sheepishly.

'Dori.'

'What, you're more scared of that old fusspot than you are of me?' Nori's voice teetered between amusement and theatrical outrage.

'Yes.' They admitted together.

'What could he do? Knit you into a jumper? Make you eat some of his stew?'

'Tell our mum we made Ori cry.'

At this, Nori couldn't contain his amusement any further. 'Well I'm plenty of things but I'm not a sneak.' He said laughingly and the brothers' relief was evident. But Nori's brow clouded.

'I don't like hearing of Ori upset, though. What happened?'

Again the brother's glanced at each other. They'd heard stories about Nori's brawling and fighting prowess. Mostly from Nori himself, though, which meant they were likely to be hugely over-inflated. If they weren't just pure invention to begin with. It didn't stop him being slightly intimidating. And everyone was protective of Ori, his brothers especially.

'We...uh... we might of accidentally said-'

'-implied that is-'

'-that he wasn't all that-'

'-not naturally-'

'-gifted-'

'-when it came to fighting.'

The brother's braced for the anger to come, but only heard a faint chuckle and looked up to see Nori shaking his head.

'And he got riled by that? He still hung up on it? When will that boy learn to stop being afraid.'

Kili and Fili exchanged puzzled glances.

'He seemed really, really upset.' Kili offered and Fili nodded his head in agreement.

'I've never seen him like that.'

Nori narrowed his eyes again. 'So you did make him cry. So what are you going to do about it? Eh?'

'Oh uh, we were thinking. Maybe a..' Kili stopped mid sentence. They had no plan.

'A party.' Fili blurted out and looked as shocked at the idea as his brother.

But Nori just laughed and claps his hands. 'What an idea! Where were you going to have it? Your place?'

'No! Um, no I don't think Uncle-' Fili began

'-There's not enough room!' Kili interrupted hurriedly.

'Aye, we thought...'

'Dori's place?' It was Kili's turn to look shocked at the words coming out of his own mouth.

A grin split Nori's face and his eyes glinted.'Have you asked permission?'

'Well, not yet, as such, we-' Fili fumbled with his words but Nori interjected.

'No need! That old badger needs a shake up. A surprise party it is! Who's coming?'

'Us. Eh, you and...Amad, Balin and...everyone else.' Kili ran out of people that knew both Ori and themselves.

Nori's eyes twinkled. 'Needing help with the guest list? Not to worry. I know people.'

With that he turned away into the darkness. Leaving the brothers to worry about just what sort of people Nori knew.


End file.
